Stories published in the past month on our website

An £800,000 research project has been launched to investigate and reduce carbon emissions released by the food industry.

Manufacturing giants, such as Unilever, Northern Foods and Hygrade Foods, have linked up with researchers from Bath, Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester universities to tackle the problem.

Academy cash

Improve, the sector skills council for the food and drink manufacturing industry, has secured government cash for a skills academy. The award could be worth up to £5m.

Improve said the academy should be up and running by September 2006.

Non-stick development

A University of Bristol scientist has set up the Revolymer company to develop the world's first non-stick chewing gum and other products based on new polymers. The physical chemistry professor has been working with a leading gum maker on combining hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers.

Marching on their stomachs

Cadbury Schweppes is coming up with two new energy dense cereal bars to power the British Army's assault on the treacherous west face of Mount Everest in 2006.

The company said the bars were designed to be consumed at high altitudes without crystallisation and could be opened by mountaineers wearing gloves.

Sweet news

The final results of a study conducted by the Italian Ramazzini Foundation, which claimed to have found a link between aspartame a widely used artificial sweetener and cancer, have been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.

Free-from first

Gourmet food manufacturer Castle Kitchens plans to open what it claimed to be Europe's first allergen-free food plant.

Permission has been sought to build alongside its existing facility at Washington, West Sussex.